The Blues Docs had a rare rehearsal yesterday and when we were talking about possible material, I found the beginnings of a song in an iTunes folder where I stow such stuff. It's definitely NOT blues; it feels to me much more like mid-70s blues rock--or maybe the long breakaway in "Free Bird."
The changes are I / bIII / IV / bVI...bVII...
A four-bar pattern with a rock beat. On and on.
The melody I do starting at 1:06 is the "melody" of the "song," such as it is.
Alan, much to my surprise, had exactly the right way of playing the chords, and my old Tweed Deluxe gave the right sort of crunch. I may write words; I may not. Alan thought that it needed a bridge. This is literally our first time playing it, so my solo was basically me trying to figure out what worked at that tempo. I can't explain why the chord changes get me the way they do, but they do. It's big fun to play--and drum.
I decided to call it "Yes We Do" in honor of Mooncat's wedding. I figure that's what two people tying the knot are saying.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on May 19, 2017 9:40 AM
Hi Adam. This sounds great. Definitely in the Free Bird vein or could be akin to some early R&B if it had horns and a funky rhythm section. Nice playing and I thought the tones you guys both got sounded good too. Would love to know what settings you had on your deluxe amp if you could remember or suggest some settings. I have an a nice tweed deluxe reissue (being foremost a guitar player) and don't have much experience with getting(knowing) what a good harp sound is through an amplifier. If you or anyone else has suggestions for basic idiot proof settings for my tweed deluxe that would be great. I have a Jt30 with a green bullet capsule. Thanks for posting.
Hey Adam. I love this kind of stuff. It's not blues but it's got a serious groove. I'll admit that I don't fully understand the chord changes as you've written them (I've only recently picked up the guitar) -- but it makes me want to learn.
The changes in the Guns 'n Roses track definitely sound close to what I came up with. The magic, in both cases, in in the fourth bar: the move from a IV chord to a bVI chord.
the thread awhile back with the interview with magic, where he discusses little walter sounding just like .. well little walter, was interesting. I would love to hear adam playing thru the deluxe with a crystal mic, i'd bet it would sound killer. may possibly sound just like adam.
Yes, yes. That does do some rockin'. ---------- Ricky B http://www.bushdogblues.blogspot.com RIVER BOTTOM BLUES--crime novel for blues fans available at Amazon/B&N, iTunes, iBook THE DEVIL'S BLUES--ditto THE OAXACAN KID--available now HOWLING MOUNTAIN BLUES--Ditto too, now available
WOW! That rocks, and would make a great instrumental track. To an intermediate fan the harp playing provides such inspiration that lyrics would pale by comparison. I've often wished that, rather than simply purchase a CD and try to copy favorite elements of the song, or have you only receive a few cents from an Itunes download, harp players could purchase a copy with your commentary, analysis, and instruction, so as to better understand the techniques and structural details of the song. The great thing about this technology age is that we no longer have to pick up the needle and play a riff over and over, trying to figure out "What's he doing there". Unfortunately, those artists didn't receive just compensation either, since they couldn't tap into the financial support well of their followers, who would have gladly paid more to learn more quickly from them. A DVD lesson is great because dummies like me can go over and over things as many times as needed, when time allows. Just a thought.
That's one of those progressions that is endless...once started, it can go on forever and has some sort of cool let's keep it going and see where it leads vibe about it.
The clip shows that Adam is obviously having fun exploring the landscape and could probably keep going for quite a while before the ideas become redundant or repetitive. ---------- The Iceman
Interesting progression. The A and D are from A major and the other Chords are "borrowed from A minor. I guess that's why an A blues scale works so well. ----------
I'm not much of a guitar player but that hooked me. Picked up the acoustic guitar and couldn't stop playing it! I like it in G. Definitely has that Freebird Jam feel. This is what the harmonica needs!
Adam, I hope you'll post a video of the final product if you finish this song.
The key of C has no sharps or flats. The notes are…. in no particular order A B C D E F G The main chords in the key of C are the root or tonic, the sub dominant and the dominant. The one four five chords if you will.
So lets take a look at the chords used in this progression. We can clearly see that these prominent chords are being used. C F AND G one four five.
Lets take a look at the other chords. A D G….. now we have an issue. The A chord has a C# The D chord has a F#............ Notice that the title of this thread is, power blues rock.
Blues rock typically employs what are known as power chords, a root five chord. It has no third. The third tone of the scale is what determines if a chord is major or minor. In this case it is ambiguous. But if we take a look at the 2 notes of each chord, A/E D/A G/D we can see they fit in with the notes of the scale A B C D E F G. Anyway that is how I see it. peace 47.
fwiw - I hear the first chord having the least tension, so I'd consider it in "A" Nice progression - the propulsive rock/soul groove reminds me a bit of "Big Bird" by Eddie Floyd
1847: There's no V chord in the progression I'm playing above. That's one thing that makes it feel as though it wants to keep going: it never has the resolution that comes from a V to I cadence.
Again, as I note above the song is in the key of A. It's a four-bar progression that begins in A, moves sequentially to the bIII chord, the IV chord, then the bVI chord (which bears the same relation to the IV chord that the bIII chord bears to the tonic chord: another element of its magic).
I think Diggs and Iceman have both touched on where the uncanny power of the progression comes from. I think that the bVI to bVII to tonic progression (with chromatic movement up from bVII to tonic allowed) works because the major third of the bVI is the tonic note (A), which reinforces the tonic key and makes the blues scale sound OK over it.
I haven't sat down and figured out the chords to Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses," a song that transfixed me as a teen, but I think there's some family rsemblance. One difference is that "Tales" has a V chord. But the long breakaway jam just repeats four chords in a four-bar pattern.
I don't know quite enough jazz harmony to answer the question. Some of those chords suddenly turn inside out and rename themselves when you change what note is on the bottom.
I did go back and listen to my original "tape" in which I came up with the song. I'd named it the "School of Rock progression." That says something about what I heard in it. The rock side of rock-blues, definitely. What makes the song unusual in the spectrum of stuff I've written is that every single chord is an unadorned major chord, without sevenths or ninths or other higher intervals. Just triads. Power chords. Alan basically hewed to that model. It turns out that nothing is really helped by adding color tones. Just four (or five) chords and the truth.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on May 27, 2017 7:54 PM
Wow!!! This knocked me out . Sorry for being a late comer,but the title threw me.
A nice bridge would be to hold each chord the same length as the whole progression,except for the last two ,which you could hold for the same amount of bars as the last progression.
Love it ---------- www.shakeylee.com ---------- www.shakeylee.com
